Oklahoma City / Ft. Smith / Memphis

We started the day with an extremely moving trip to the memorial site for the Oklahoma City bombing.  Gates at either end of the reflecting pool marked the minutes before and after the bomb went off.

Chairs--each one represented a person who lost his/her life in the explosion.

The survivor tree, which was burnt badly in the blast, but has returned to its former, leafy glory: 

After that, the rest of the day was about food.  Take a breath as the tone changes to ridiculous, hedonist pleasures.

Can you believe I've never been to Panera for breakfast?  My bagel and coffee were divine.

Yelp pointed us to this AMAZING Vietnamese restaurant, housed in a funky old gas station in downtown Ft. Smith, Arkansas.

Natalie adored her banana tapioca pudding.

The long-awaited, much-anticipated blizzard from Dairy Queen, outside of Ft. Smith.

We couldn't believe that our hotel was just 1 mile from Corky's, the absolute best BBQ in Memphis.  We both got the JUMBO pulled pork sandwiches.

Natalie had sweet tea.  I had a beer (of course).

Messy meal, but entirely worth it.  We are now in food comas.  Ooooffffff.

Now I'm doing laundry at our lovely La Quinta hotel.  Oliver has shredded his newspaper and seems to be asleep for the night.  Tomorrow we head to Chattanooga to see Stephen and his family.  And tomorrow E, B, and N get on a plane and fly to Virginia! Yaaaayyyyy!!!!!